Canis Lupis, also known as the Grey Wolf, or the Timber wolf is approximately 135 pounds and the shoulder height is around 36 inches. Now, Alex realised this was big when he had read about it a few years ago in class, after the teacher had decided to do a project on endangered species in Europe. But it wasn't until he saw one that he fully appreciated how big it truly was. As Alex turned around to the sound of a growl, he knew exactly what was waiting for him, and that huge mass of steel grey and white hair that was now growling with a painful volume was sometimes known as 'Red'. Red was Grey Fox's pet wolf and for a creature that is supposedly difficult to tame, Alex personally felt that Fox had done a bloody good job; Red was a better guard dog than any other. Alex almost kicked himself for forgetting about the monstrously sized canine that was always near his master. Indeed it seemed that no matter where Grey Fox would go, Red was close behind.

" Easy." Alex said softly to the wolf that now had his teeth bared in a malicious snarl.

" Red?" The voice came from the office and was easily recognised as Grey Fox's. Red immediately yipped and then became docile as he brushed past Alex and trotted into the office by pushing the door open with his snout. " Alex, it's rude to eavesdrop, get in here." He also heard Grey Fox say and with more than a little embarrassment, he made his way into the small office. Inside the office Grey Fox was looking at him with ever-sharp eyes as she mindlessly scratched her pet around the neck. The wolf's eyes were half closed in pleasure though he did manage a bark of discontent at Alex when he appeared in the doorway. Grey Fox muttered a 'no' to him without looking and instead kept her full attention on Alex.

" What were you doing?" She asked, though she held a little amusement in her voice.

" Hawk told me to come down, he said you'd probably want to see me." He said without any emotion, though he wondered how the assassin in front of him would react.

" Hmm, he was right. But that's not exactly what I meant." She gave him a knowing smile as she began to look for something in the drawer of her desk. " How much did you hear, then?" She asked.

Alex, keeping a keen eye on what Grey Fox's hand was doing as he answered. " Not much, I really just arrived when you realised I was there."

Grey Fox smirked, and her eyes flickered up to his. " So the question is; when did I realise you were there?" She asked but didn't wait for the answer as she pocketed something and stood up. " Well, come on then. I finished here for the night." Red got up with her and walked out of the room ahead of her.

" See you tomorrow, Mila." Grey Fox said as she too made her way out of the room. Mila saluted both her and Alex casually with a smile as the two of them left.

Grey Fox had an apartment in the city. Alex didn't know what he had expected when he had seen her apartment for the first time, but it wasn't anything like it was. The apartment was very modern; huge windows all around let in a great amount of light, though (as Grey Fox had assured him), there was no need for alarm because they were all bullet proof. There was also art in the apartment, long paintings and sculptures that held little to no resemblance to what their names depicted. Aside from that, there was furniture splayed around the place 'artistically', but Alex knew that Grey Fox had done it purely for convenience sake if someone broke in and made an attempt on her life that she could fight without worrying about knocking into something. Finally, and this surprised Alex the most, there were musical instruments all over the apartment; there was a piano in the corner of the living room, a cello in the hall, a harmonica in the cupboards in the kitchen and Alex thought he might have seen a guitar when he passed by Grey Fox's bedroom on his way to his own. But when he had asked about the surprising amount of instruments, Grey Fox assured him with a fierce intensity that she didn't play any and that they were there, purely for keeping up appearances. She had then gone on to say something about people thinking she was a musiCane or something of that sort, she said that she left it vague on purpose.

Despite it's weirdness, Alex was glad when they reached the apartment, he was tired and the guest bed was one of the comfiest things he had ever had the pleasure of sleeping on which was an oddity when it came to missions. He usually steeled himself up for a nap involving handcuffs, a radiator and a nice portion of first-thing-in-the-morning torture. Alex realised that things could have gone a lot worse.

Grey Fox was humming a tune to herself merrily as she rummaged in her pockets looking for the key. Red sat obediently at her feet and waited patiently for her to open to door. When she finally did extract the keys from her heavy coat, she put them into the keyhole and twiddled it a bit until it opened and she swung it open. Red's ears picked up just as Grey Fox hunkered down to collect the mail that had come through the mail box and Grey Fox stiffened and looked over at her companion. Red let out a quiet growl and Fox looked at Alex with her finger on her lip and motioning him to stay where he was. She gracefully rose and with the elegance of a cat, she began to stalk into the darkened apartment with a knife loosely twirling in her hand.

There were a few moments when nothing could be heard and Alex looked down at Red, who seemed to be listening intensely for any sounds at all. Alex suddenly felt that he wanted to do something. He wasn't sure what Red had heard and he could only guess why Grey Fox had reacted so suddenly to Red sensing whatever he had, but it made him feel a little left out though he hated to admit it and he found that he really wanted to do something. Alex had never kid himself; he knew he wasn't the best trained spy and he knew that he didn't know half the stuff most of the agents in the world knew but he had always taken a certain amount of pride in being able to keep up with the tempo. But this was different, there was only small things that he noticed with people, but for the first time Alex really felt that he had gotten deeper than he knew existed. It was almost out of his reach and he wondered why it hadn't occurred to him before he came on this mission. Then again, it hadn't really been pointed out to him until Grey Fox had told him " Welcome to the Underworld." all that time ago.

It was another moment before Alex heard anything, but even before then, Red stood up and began to inch forward, seemingly trying to make up his mind whether to stay and disobey his master or to go inside. It was then when Alex himself heard a loud bang and Grey Fox shout. Without thinking, he let the training from his previous missions take over and he ran into the apartment, the wolf followed after. Alex sprinted into the living room and skidded to a halt to see Grey Fox looking rather annoyed. He followed his mentor's gaze across the room to a man, standing there with a smirk on his face. The man was roughly around Grey Fox's age and though he was young, there was evidence of greyness within his hair. There was a lamp beside the man's feet and Alex deduced that she had just thrown it at him.

" Honestly, keep this up and I might think that you're not happy to see me…" He drawled as he lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Grey Fox scowled as she strode over to him and took it out of his mouth. She put it out on his coat, to which he grimaced and she threw it in a bin near the wall.

" What are you doing here, Cane?" She demanded as she took a step away from her.

" What? No kiss?" He asked and then saw Alex. " Who's the kid?"

" Alex Rider. He's under my tutelage. Now, answer my question."

"Rider? Name seems familiar…" Cane wondered aloud.

" It should. Now answer me, what are you doing here?" Grey Fox said. She crossed her arms and waited patiently.

Cane took one last look at Alex before looking at Red. " I see you still have the dog." He said distastefully. Red growled and moved closer to Grey Fox.

" Cane…" She warned.

Cane looked around and then sighed. " Aren't you going to invite me to stay?"

" Nope. Not until you tell me what you're doing here. And I'd advise you to answer quickly, my patience is wearing and I'm not opposed to removing parts of you when you're acting like this." She thumbed the blade as she spoke and it seemed to work because the man, Cane, finally answered.

" Ever hear of Evergreen Bank?" He asked.

Grey Fox frowned and then nodded.

" Well, I think I may have a job for you."